Olive You to the Moon and Back
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore! Ah Italy… such a romantic country with delicious food… not that I’d know. I’ve never been! This time I am crying!!
In this blog I’m going to talk about a staple in Italian cuisine, olive oil. The first thing most people probably think of when they hear olive oil is salad dressing. Well I am here to tell you that it is so much more!
In the kitchen, I prefer to use olive oil as a drizzle, in salad dressings, and to smooth other sauces and dips. I rarely use it to cook with unless I’m slow poaching fish at a low temp. As it gets hotter olive oil loses its health benefits and some say it can become carcinogenic at a high temperature. So for my personal use, I keep it uncooked.
When it comes to skincare, olive oil has more protective properties than moisturizing. Olive oil contains phenolic compounds which are known for having antibacterial properties. This makes olive oil great for sunburns as well as aiding in wound care. Remember that body butter I mentioned? When I first started dabbling with this recipe, I used olive oil as an emulsifier. An emulsifier is basically a substance that binds other ingredients together during agitation (stirring or shaking). Thus it’s great in sauces and dressings as well as lotions and creams.
Olive oil is a great carrier alternative to coconut for internal use, if you have a coconut allergy. It can also be used for oil pulling. Make sure to buy extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil. As a large market it is peppered with fakes and some too good to be true prices are watered down, synthesized, or cut with cheaper vegetable oils. If you’re not sure about your oil, put it in the fridge. It should solidify if it’s the real deal.
